a057  0325  14 Feb 77
PM-Drought, 320
    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Drought-plagued northern Californians face the
possibility of scattered blackouts because there is too little water
in reservoirs that supply hydroelectric plants, energy experts say.
    Power generation this summer may drop to 20 or 30 per cent of normal
levels if there isn't more rain and snow to replenish reservoirs
feeding 64 power-generating plants, spokesmen say.
    ''We're hoping to bring about a shotgun wedding of all the major
public utilities in the state to coordinate distribution of what power
there is,'' said Robert Ham of the California Energy Commission.
    If the summer is not too hot and the public cuts its use of
electricity, ''rolling blackouts'' can be avoided, said Ham, the
commission's emergency planner.
    Under the rolling blackout system, pre-selected areas would lose
power for a short period, then the blackout would be moved to other
area, Ham explained.
    To most, the blackout might mean only the loss of an electric clock
or air conditioning for a couple of hours, but the power interruption
would be disastrous to others.
    In the San Joaquin Valley, for instance, poultry farmers need
electricity 24 hours a day to ventilate chicken factories and dairy
farmers need power for milking and cooling machines. Crop farmers need
electricity to run irrigation pumps.
    A spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric, with three million Northern
California customers, said the outlook is for ''a very serious
situation this summer when it gets hot.''
    In 1975, when the runoff from Sierra Nevada watersheds was good and
reservoirs were full, PG&E's plants turned out 14 billion kilowatt
hours of power.
    Last year the total fell to 8 billion kilowatt hours. This year the
plants might produce 4.8 billion kilowatt hours or even less,
officials say.
    
0626aES 02-14
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a229  1159  14 Feb 77
AM-Drought, Bjt, 490
    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Northern Californians, already dry from two
years of drought, now face the possibility of power blackouts this
summer because of reduced hydroelectric power, prompting a state
energy official's call for a ''shotgun wedding'' of major utilities.
    The critically low level of reservoirs - as low as one quarter of
capacity - and a snowpack in the Sierras as much as 50 inches below
normal mean less water will be available to power hydroelectric
turbines, utility officials noted Monday.
    Robert Ham, emergency planning director for the California Energy
Commission, said hydroelectric generation in Northern California's 64
plants, normally producing 25 billion kilowatt hours a year, is
rapidly dwindling.
    For example, Ham said, Pacific Gas & Electric Co.'s plants turned
out 14 billion kilowatt hours in 1975, when snow runoff from the
Sierra was good and reservoirs were full.
    Last year, the total plunged to 8 billion kilowatt hours and Ham
predicted 4.8 kilowatt hours or less this year. A 100-watt bulb
burning for 10 hours equals one kilowatt hour.
    PG&E serves three million customers in Northern California.
    ''We're hoping to bring about a shotgun wedding of all the major
public utilities in the state to coordinate distribution of what power
there is,'' Ham said.
    The ''shotgun wedding'' would involve pooling the resources of
competing companies to shift power from a utility with a surplus to
one with a shortage.
    Ham said a cool summer and voluntary cutbacks by consumers would
help avert the possibility of rolling blackouts, a system of shutting
off power in preselected areas for short periods of time.
    Power interruption would mean loss of air conditioning and other
comforts to city dwellers and could be potentially disastrous to
farmers in the San Joaquin Valley.
    Poultry farmers need electricity around the clock to ventilate
chicken barns and dairy farmers need power for milking and cooling
machines. Crop farmers depend on electricity to run irrigation pumps.
    ''Next to water, an assured source of electric supply has to be our
biggest concern right now,'' said Jack King of the California Farm
Bureau Federation.
    Stringent water rationing programs are in effect in the San
Francisco Bay area counties of Marin, Alameda and Contra Costa.
Residents are being limited to as little as 50 gallons a day a person.
Other Californians are being urged to voluntarily conserve water.
    The water shortage was so bad in nearby Novato that a radio news
report of a $160,000 fire at a lumber company Sunday night emphasized
the amount of water used to fight the blaze. There was no official
estimate of the gallons of water used, but one fireman estimated
''thousands.''
    ''I suppose firemen will get blamed for lack of water,'' complained
one Novato fireman. ''But how else are we suppose to fight the darn
thing?''
    A restaurant in nearby Sausalito reported it had disconnected its
dishwasher and will be using plastic service, saving 1,800 gallons of
water a day but hiking costs by $3,000 per month.
    
1500pED 02-14
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a247  1337  14 Feb 77
AM-Drought, 1st add, a229, 140
SAN FRANCISCO: per month.
    Meanwhile, Oregon Gov. Bob Straub predicted Monday that water
rationing will be imposed on parched Oregon communities next summer.
    ''In my judgment there will be water rationing,'' Straub told a news
conference in Salem. ''We're already beyond the point of no return as
far as water is concerned.''
    Straub said rationing would be decided on a watershed-by-watershed
basis although he declared a statewide critical condition because of
the continuing drought.
    The south coastal cities of Coos Bay, North Bend and Port Orford
have an acute water shortage now, he said, and 39 other communities
have a high potential for water problems next summer.
    Straub also said he and the governors of Washington, Idaho and
Montana will meet next month in Portland to discuss regional plans to
deal with shortages of water and electricity.
    
1639pED 02-14
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